


If the world was ending you'd come over right?

by aethershine



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Relationship, Disasters, F/M, Love Wins, love in the face of adversity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:22:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23245456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aethershine/pseuds/aethershine
Summary: A love story told in three Acts set in the modern world that explores Rey and Ben's relationship and how it stands up during times of extreme adversity.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	1. Act 1: The Plane

**Author's Note:**

> This is an experiment. I have never written an AU fiction before so this is my first time. So be gentle. This is an idea that I've had for a long time, but always thought it was so far fetched that it wouldn't work. But we are living in far-fetched times, so I figured, what the hell?   
> Another note: This is a mild trigger warning for later in the story. I don't want to give the plot away, but since it is alluded to in this chapter with the disclosure of Rey's profession, I want to make this clear. This story is NOT going to specifically involve COVID-19 or the coronavirus. Her profession is going to come into play in the later part of the story, but it is not going to be specifically about what is happening to all of us right now. I write for fun about fictional things. I do not want to write about real life causes it sucks right now.   
> Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you like it.

Part One

Rey is perturbed but doing her best to maintain her calm. She adjusts her position to turn away from the aisle, but the guy’s shoulders in the seat next to her are so broad that they almost extend into her quite sizable first-class seat. He’s wearing a baseball cap and hunkering down, which somehow makes him take up more space. His face is turned away from her, which is lucky, because every so often Rey can’t help herself from shooting him an annoyed look. 

Rey tries to focus on the positive. Things at the conference went well, her paper had been well received, so that was something to celebrate. She bends her head closer to the journal she is reading and grits her teeth, focusing her attention like a laser. Anything to block out the steady stream of women who are positively clogging the aisle to gawk at her seatmate. They started doing this shortly after the plane reached cruising altitude and although the flight attendants are doing their best to keep the aisle clear, the women are persistent. Rey wonders vaguely if there is a federal marshal on the plane she can flag down for help. 

She isn’t sure what the big deal is. She figures he’s probably _somebody_. He’s big enough to be an athlete, but Rey doesn’t make it a habit of following celebrities of any kind. She doesn’t watch sports and has seen maybe two movies during the past year. She allowed Finn to drag her out to one right before she left for the conference. 

“Come on Rey!” He’d exclaimed. “You’ll have plenty of time to nerd-out at your “big important doctor” conference. Let’s meet up for pizza and a show.” 

She hadn’t wanted to go. She still had so much to prepare, so much research data to pour over just a few more times so that she’d be ready for any question that was thrown at her. It isn’t that she’s insecure about her research; it’s that she knows she’s always the youngest doctor in the room, and it still feels like she’s got to be better than the rest. Sharper, faster, more focused and intense. 

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Finn said, trying to assuage her concerns. “You’re the genius who graduated from med school at 24. If they can’t handle it that’s their problem.”

But that is the problem that she comes up against again and again. People underestimating her. Thinking she is just a kid. Even Dr. Dameron, who can’t be more than ten years older than she is, takes perverse pleasure in putting her on the spot during rounds, even though he knows she’s the best doctor in the hospital, possibly in the city. 

A girl in the aisle stumbles and falls partially into Rey’s lap. Her temper finally flairs and she glares at the women who are clustered in the aisle. She looks pointedly at her seatmate.

“Are you going to do something about this?” She asks quietly through gritted teeth. 

He finally deigns to look at her. 

Her first thought when their eyes meet is that there is too much happening with his face. No, that isn’t quite right. It is that he is striking in an unusual way. Rey likes looking people in the eye, it is part of what makes her a good doctor. She can tell a lot about a person from their eyes, a knack that Finn is fond of calling ‘spooky.’ This man’s eyes are dark and shielded and he does not look like someone to mess with. But neither is she, and she is on the cusp of pushing him further, when she notices the corner of his mouth turn down in a frown. He swallows and furrows his brow. These are fleeting changes in expression, but Rey can read them for what they are as she has seen them many times before.

A silent plea for help. 

She turns away from him and stands to face the small crowd of women in the aisle. She places herself in front of him, trying to block him from view as much as she can. 

“Ladies,” she begins, her voice calm but firm. “I would truly appreciate it if you would leave me and my boyfriend alone. We’ve had a difficult work week and need time to rest on the flight.” She meets each one of their eyes as she says this, and while her tone is reasonable, the look in her eyes is clear.

_Don’t push me._

The women each react differently. A couple immediately depart, their faces red. A few of them eye her, looking her up and down before skulking away. One remains standing in front of her, hip cocked out to the side defiantly.

“No,” the woman says aggressively. She’s probably in her late twenties, with caramel colored hair and blue eyes. Her features are lovely and rounded, teeth perfectly straight and bleached as white as snow. Rey has no doubt this is a person who is used to getting her way. “I follow him on social media. He’s never said a word about having a girlfriend.” She holds her ground and raises her eyebrows at Rey. 

Rey is on the very edge of losing her temper, when she feels the man behind her rise slightly in his seat so that his head comes up next to hers. He places his hand on her waist. Rey is about to protest when she feels his lips brush the side of her cheek. She is a hairsbreadth from exploding in indignation when she hears a deep velvet voice close to her ear. 

“Sit down darling,” he implores as his lips touch her temple, his tone as smooth as silk. 

The sound of his voice does something to her. She feels it deep in her core. Rey freezes in place. 

His next words are infinitesimally less kind and directed to the woman standing in front of them, who is now gaping, her mouth hanging open unappealingly. “I’m always grateful for support from my fans, but my publicist handles my social media, and trust me,” he pauses, and drops the friendly tone so that now his voice is razor sharp, “my Twitter feed has nothing to do with my personal life. Please leave us alone so we can rest.” 

The woman flinches and her face turns red, but she finally relents, moving reluctantly toward the back of the plane. The flight attendants, relieved, disperse to attend to their duties.

Rey hears the man heave a sigh. His hand drops from her waist and he returns to his seated position, head down, eyes shielded by the brim of his baseball cap. 

Rey slowly sits in her seat, working to wrap her head around what just happened. Her mind is screaming at her to slam down all her defenses. It is also telling her to slap the person who took the liberty of touching her without permission, of kissing her, of whispering in her ear. 

_With that voice._

Just the thought of it makes her feel a pull deep in her stomach that reaches all the way up to her throat. 

“Thank you,” he says.

Rey turns her head to face him, blinking and unsure of what he is talking about. In the space of about three seconds she takes a closer look at his face. Raven black hair, pale skin spattered with tiny freckles, dark hooded eyes, nose hawkish, with a soft, full mouth. Being a doctor makes her a master at quick assessment, so she barely skips a beat when she asks, “For what?” She keeps her face completely blank, despite feeling a little bewildered by their encounter, another trick of her trade. 

“For trying to come to my rescue,” he says, a smile forming on his mouth. His eyes crease congenially, and she catches sight of crooked teeth. This man is not classically handsome, and yet he is stunning in his own way. This passes through Rey’s mind in a blink. She continues to make her face a mask.

“A lot of good it did. I think you saved yourself. Maybe a bit at my expense.” She crooks an eyebrow at him but remains amiable by offering a small smile of her own. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he says, looking down at his hands as he flexes them in his lap. “I could tell she was going to be one of the clingy ones. Figured I had to go all in, or she’d never leave us alone.”

“Why was she like that?” She asks. “Are you an athlete or something?”

The look that he gives her is two things at once and she only catches it because she’s seen it on patient’s faces when they get very good news. Skepticism and relief. 

“No, I’m not an athlete,” he says quietly, continuing to regard her cautiously. He is quiet then, as if waiting for her to go on. 

But he is waiting in vain because Rey truly has got nothing. She has no idea who this person is, no matter how striking he looks, so she just gives him a small smile and shrugs. “I’m not into sports or other things…don’t have the time really, so, I just figured because of your size…you must play something,” she finishes lamely. 

He looks away and down at his hands. He seems torn about what to say and he shifts in his seat. Rey reads his body language easily. He is terribly uncomfortable.

“Listen, it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me. I’m not going to know anyway. I’ve spent most of my life with my nose buried in a book or some lab report. I’m not good with…culture,” she says gently, shaking her head slightly with the last word. She’s never really thought about it before, how she’s sheltered herself from the shiny things in the world. 

When he looks at her relief is written across his face.

“So, what do you do that keeps your nose in a book all the time?”

“I’m a doctor. Oh! Which reminds me,” she reaches into her bag to grab her phone, “I have to check on a patient.” She starts keying in her passcode.

“You are a doctor?” He asks incredulously.

She stops flipping through emails for a split second to shoot him a look out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah, I know. I’m young.” She starts digging through her bag, looking for her power cord and charger. She groans. “You don’t happen to have a power charger that would work with this phone do you…it’s about to die and I need to check on this patient…”

“My phone is broken,” he answers absently. She looks at him and finds him staring at her with an odd expression.

“What is it?” She asks, mild irritation leaking into her voice. She turns back to her phone and starts texting. “I just really need to get in touch with my boss about this patient.”

The plane suddenly shakes and then dips. The fasten your seatbelt sign dings and lights up. A low announcement is made about returning to seats. Rey absently buckles her seat belt. When she notices he isn’t buckling his, she gives him a look, raising her brows. 

“Don’t smoke and wear your seat belt…millions of lives saved,” she says dryly but directly, as if the words have come out of her mouth a thousand times. 

He smiles crookedly but complies by buckling his seatbelt.

“What kind of doctor are you?” He asks.

“Infectious disease. Epidemiology, stuff like that,” she answers turning her gaze back to the screen, but suddenly her mind is elsewhere. “Damn,” she adds quietly.

“What is it?”

“My patient is getting better, but not fast enough. He’s going to miss his granddaughter’s wedding.” Rey feels sad and a bit guilty. It is unlikely that it would have made a difference, but she suddenly wishes she had been there to monitor this case instead of going to the conference. 

“Are you okay?” He asks. Rey looks back at him and fixes her face into a smile that is mostly real. It is another thing that all good doctors know how to do.

“Yes, everything is fine,” she answers automatically, studying his face again for a few seconds to see if she recognizes him. But she’s still got nothing. 

Suddenly, the plane drops violently. Some people and a lot of items are tossed into the air and come down hard as the plane levels out. 

All at once without thinking Rey reaches out to grab onto the man’s arm and he in turn puts his hand over hers. They look at one another, eyes wide.

“What was that?” She asks.

“I don’t know,” he answers, “But I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

The plane shudders again, drops, and then the lights go dark. People begin to scream. 


	2. Act 1: The Plane Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to MFA101 for the comment and kudos. Your response made me push to finish this today. One person can make a difference, and I am so very grateful.   
> I'm not sure but the chapter number may get pushed out to 10 or 12, we will see. I also do not foresee following this same format in every chapter (you will see what I mean when you start reading it) but I feel like I am still working on characterization, and while this is my take on Ben and Rey in the modern world, I wanted to get in both of their heads a little bit upon first meeting. Future chapters will likely be a clean switch back and forth between POV. Just read it and you'll see:-)  
> If you read it please leave a comment and let me know what you think. It really does help to make me to write faster.

Part Two

“So, what do you do that keeps your nose in a book all the time?” Ben asks trying to keep his voice steady. He is so used to projecting disinterest, hostility even, that allowing himself to ask a stranger a personal question is both novel and thrilling. 

The girl’s eyes meet his and he feels like a spotlight is on him, but not in the normal intrusive way. Rather it is like a sunbeam hitting him, and he feels both warmed and somehow lifted by her attention.

“I’m a doctor. Oh! Which reminds me,” she says quickly, “I have to check on a patient.” 

Ben is shocked. This girl can’t be much past the age of twenty, twenty-two at the most. Everything about her is bright and new, and while she’s shown poise that belies someone so young, he still can’t quite believe it.

“You are a doctor?” He asks, trying to keep his voice as neutral as he can. He immediately knows he has failed. 

She gives him a sidelong look and sighs impatiently. “Yeah, I know. I’m young.” He continues to watch her, feeling something akin to awe. She grumbles, a soft impatient growl at the back of her throat that he immediately finds endearing. He internally chides himself.

_Get a grip on yourself._

“You don’t happen to have a power charger that would work with this phone do you…it’s about to die and I need to check on this patient…”

“My phone is broken,” he answers absently, remembering how his phone had come to be broken. Pictures it flying across the room and shattering on the wall. He thinks about the day he had, the month, really. He tried to charter a private flight, but nothing was available until tomorrow and the dread he felt at the thought of boarding this plane, of being confronted with the public after such a terrible day, felt like too much. 

“What is it?” She asks, and the look she gives him could be irritation at him for staring, or a reaction to the dark look he is sure he is wearing on his face as he relives his day.

She turns back to her phone and stares intensely at its screen.

“I just really need to get in touch with my boss about this patient,” she states.

He feels the plane shudder, but he can’t stop looking at the girl and realizes he is glad that he wasn’t able to charter the flight. Suddenly she’s looking at him again, a look of concern on her face that is softened by a little smile. 

“Don’t smoke and wear your seat belt…millions of lives saved,” she says in a tone that brooks no argument. She points up and furrows her brow at him and all at once he can totally see her as a doctor. He looks up and notices that the fasten your seatbelt light is on. He didn’t even hear it ding. 

He buckles his seatbelt, but he wants to keep talking to her. He is vaguely aware of a feeling in his head that borders on dizziness. 

_Do I feel giddy?_

“What kind of doctor are you?” He asks.

“Infectious disease. Epidemiology, stuff like that,” she answers quickly.

Ben knows enough to know that this means she is incredibly smart. He was in a movie once involving epidemiologists and he remembers during his research for the part that epidemiology involved a lot of math that made his head swim. 

“Damn,” the girl breaths dejectedly.

“What is it?” Ben asks, hearing the concern in her voice.

“My patient is getting better, but not fast enough. He’s going to miss his granddaughter’s wedding.” Her brow furrows and she bites her lower lip. Ben allows himself to get caught up in looking at her lips for a moment before he attends to the fact that she looks dismayed. 

“Are you okay?”

When she looks at him, he watches as she fixes her beautiful features into something like an open bowl. She is so lovely that it takes his breath away, but then he is also aware of something else. He can see that she is _acting_. 

“Yes, everything is fine.” Her tone is calm and reassuring, as if nothing in the world could possibly ever go wrong. She continues to look at him, face serene and thoughtful. It is a considerate look, one that is both compassionate and circumspect. He wonders if this is her true self, or if this is who she is for her patients. All at once he wants more than anything to find out. 

The plane suddenly loses altitude precipitously. Several unlucky people and things go flying into the air. Ben vaguely remembers a time long ago when his father yelled at him to tie down the shipment in the cargo bay of the small plane his father loved more than anything else. 

“Don’t want things flying all over the place if things get bumpy,” his father said.

The girl startles when the plane drops and grabs onto his arm. He automatically reaches for her hand. He looks at her and the look of calm has evaporated from her features. Her eyes are wide in alarm.

“What was that?” She asks.

He thinks for a moment. He’d felt the starboard side dip when they dropped. Something with the engine?

“I don’t know. But I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he says quietly.

The plane shakes violently and loses altitude again. When the lights go out, the plane is momentarily plunged into darkness until the safety lights go on. Several people start to scream and yell out in panic. 

The plane levels out again, but Ben can feel that they are still descending at a lower than normal pitch and quickened pace. The flight attendants are recalled to their seats. Something is very, very wrong.

The girl releases his arm and is frantically texting on her phone. 

The plane tips hard on the starboard side again, and this time Ben is sure that there is some kind of engine trouble. He knows these planes have multiple engines on each side for a reason, but they are going to have to land soon before the pressure on the other engines becomes too great.

“Do you want to use my phone to text someone?” The girl asks breathlessly, and he can see that her eyes have changed from being fearful to being focused. At first Ben doesn’t understand why she is asking, but when realization dawns he is swamped in regret. Because he really doesn’t have anyone to send a last text message to if in fact this is the end. At least not anyone who he has talked to very much during the past few years. Reluctantly he takes the phone. He tries not to look at her last text but can’t help but read it.

_plane going bad don’t know but love you finn tell rose_

He feels a pang for the girl and types in his mother’s number, figuring he wouldn’t be much of a son if he didn’t at least reach out to her at this moment. 

_its ben don’t know what’s going to happen im sorry I love you_

The moment he hits send the plane banks hard to port but drops altitude in earnest. Without thinking he throws his arm in front of the girl protectively. She wraps both arms around his. He looks at her and their eyes meet. In the low light he can just barely make out her features but fills in what he can from memory. It feels like grace that he should be allowed to look at this face at the end. 

The plane bucks again and there is a groaning sound of metal grinding.

The oxygen masks deploy. Flight attendants scream over the din to don the masks and assume crash positions. They comply in unison, but continue to look at one another, even as they lean forward. He can’t really lean forward enough as his body is too tall for the space, so he puts his arm over her back and bends his body over hers. She grabs his free hand in both of hers. 

As the pilot yells over the intercom that they have found a landing site, Ben feels little reassurance. He can tell they are pitched too far forward. The sounds of alarms, grinding metal and people screaming is so loud that he can’t hear her, but he can feel the girl’s breathing beneath him. He places his cheek on her back. 

And he thought this day couldn’t get any worse. 

* * *

Ben is sitting in what is probably the most uncomfortable chair of his life. But then the past 12 hours have been uncomfortable all around. He watches Rey, he knows her name now, talk to several of the hospital’s doctors, and he is awed at her stamina. From the moment the plane crashed she has been doing nothing but helping other people, beginning with him. 

The impact was stunning, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Somehow, the pilot, Captain Calrissian, found a road in the dark using streetlamps as his guide, and through some combination of skill, luck and sheer will, managed to get the plane on the ground with no loss of life. The plane will never fly again, but all the people walked away with only minor injuries. 

For Ben’s part, he struck his head and shoulder very hard on the tray table in front of them when he slid forward on impact. The blow left him a little stunned, but he didn’t lose consciousness. He knows this because he clearly remembers Rey’s voice yelling from beneath him.

“Are you okay? Are we down?”

He sat back and looked at her, pulling the oxygen mask from his face. 

“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head and quickly realizing that was a very bad idea as nausea rolled through him slickly.

She ripped the oxygen mask from her face and looked at him very closely. He felt her fingers at the pulse of his neck. She slipped her hands to either side of his neck, palpating near the back of his head. 

“Your head is bleeding. Minor. Probable concussion. Do you feel sick?” All her words came out calmly and efficiently. 

“Yes,” he said quietly, as everything suddenly seemed very loud. She handed him a vomit bag.

“Here. What is your name?”

“Ben,” he answered, his own voice sounding tinny in his ears. 

“Ben, I’m Rey. Thank you for protecting me during the crash. I’m uninjured so I have to go now to check on the other people. I will be back. Stay awake. If you feel like you are falling asleep, call my name.”

Ben focused on her face then with all his concentration. Such a lovely face, with hazel eyes. He had always liked hazel eyes, how they could change with light and mood.

“Rey. Is your name,” he said slowly.

Her face cracked into a smile that was like a brilliant star.

“Stay awake, Ben. Call my name.”

That had been hours and hours ago, and Ben still isn’t asleep. He watches her, amazed at the efficiency with which she moves from person to person, task to task. She repeatedly returns to him. She leans toward him so that she can look into his eyes. Even though he knows he is being assessed, it feels like more than that, like she is watching out for him. 

Ben has never had anyone watch out for him, or at least not for a very long time, so he doesn’t know what he thinks about it, and honestly, thinking hurts right now. Strangely it makes him feel vulnerable, which he doesn’t like one bit. But somehow it also makes him feel cared for, which is a bit contradictory. It is the best analysis that he can do for the moment. 

She even threw off a few fans who came poking around him and her ferocity is stunning, not unlike the plane impact. Someone must have told her who he is, because just a few minutes ago she stepped between him and another person and said in a low, dangerous voice,

“Yes, I know exactly who he is, and I don’t care one bit. If you don’t back off with that phone, I will have you removed. He is my patient and he is injured. Get out of this room, now.”

Sometimes, when she returns to the room, she stands next to him and leans into the wall but also lets her side lean a little into his uninjured shoulder, placing her hand on it, her touch a reassurance. This little bit of familiarity is foreign to Ben, who normally dislikes being touched by other people.

She is doing this right now, and she says quietly, “I’m wearing out Ben.”

“We should go then,” he replies. 

She is quiet for several beats.

“Yeah. Most everyone has been claimed by someone and the hospital’s got it under control. We are pretty far outside Los Angeles though. I don’t know where we’d go.”

Ben reaches down into his pocket and pulls out her phone, which somehow remained in his possession through the entire plane crash and its aftermath.

“This is dead, but if you get me another phone, I can call someone who will have us out of here within an hour,” he states, even as he feels the beginnings of dread. He really does not want to call Snoke, but if anyone can perform an extraction quickly and quietly it is his agent. 

“I don’t think that you leave the hospital, Ben. You have a concussion, and I don’t know about your shoulder. You should have an MRI at least before we leave.”

“My shoulder is fine. I tore my rotator cuff a few years ago, this isn’t that bad. A little PT and I’ll be back to normal in no time.” Ben says all of this calmly, but he is distracted by his sudden need to get out of this place. He stands, willing himself to be steady on his feet.

She regards him silently for a few moments and he can see he’s being assessed again. He forms his face into a crooked smile, puts out his hand and asks, “Phone?” She isn’t the only one adept at acting.

For a moment he is concerned that she is seeing through him, but her own exhaustion must be winning out, because after a few moments she heaves a sigh and says in a defeated tone, “Okay, follow me.”

He is glad she’s walking in front of him so that she can’t observe the unsteadiness of his gait. It isn’t too bad, just a small shuffle now and then, but he knows he’s off. When they reach the nurse’s station she speaks to the nurse for a moment and then turns to him with the phone. 

He dials Snoke’s number feeling ill in the pit of his stomach but willing himself to squash it. 

“Yes?” Snoke answers, drawing out the S sinisterly. 

“I need a pickup and a hotel,” Ben replies neutrally.

“Wait one moment, my boy. I thought you made it clear yesterday that I am persona non grata. Why the change of heart so soon?”

“I was in a plane crash,” Ben states flatly, as if he is reporting the weather. “I’m stranded. I’ve paid your contract for the year. I need an assist.”

The line is quiet for a long time, and Ben knows that Snoke is dragging this out to make him squirm. Ben fits his teeth together at the back of his mouth and grinds down. He is about to hang up and figure it out for himself, he is an adult after all and he is sure that he can navigate this problem, concussion and all, when Snoke returns to line.

“Its all set up. A car will be there in 30 minutes,” Snoke says silkily.

Ben is so relieved that he could fall over but he keeps his tone placid, “I’m going to need two rooms.”

Snoke doesn’t even ask. There is a pause, and then he replies with a clipped, “Done!”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Ben states, and then hangs up the phone. He looks at Rey, who has been leaning against the wall observing him quietly.

“The car will be here in a half an hour to pick us up.”

Rey’s brows go up in surprise and she asks incredulously, “What? How? You didn’t even tell him where we are.”

Ben’s facade slips for a moment when he sighs, shaking his head and gazing that the floor. “Somehow he always knows. I wonder sometimes if he put a chip in my head or something.”

When he looks at her again, she is gazing at him carefully, as if she is trying to get a read on something. After a moment or two her eyes drop and a crooked smile forms on her lips. 

“I’ll get you in an MRI machine yet, get a look in your head. I’ll let you know if there’s a chip in there.”

His smile in return is a wince. “What if you don’t find anything in there? What if it’s just empty?”

She sidles up next to him and says gently, “Aww that’s just the concussion talking. You seem like you’ve got a lot going on up there.” They walk side by side and when Ben shuffles a bit, she links her arm with his. “Gonna have to stay awake for a while longer mister. We are going to have to find some cards to play or something.”

For the first time since before the trouble started on the plane, Ben feels the stirring of hope. 

_Or something._


	3. Act 1: The Plane Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter was a monster to write in many ways and for different reasons. It ended up being a monstrous 5,000+ words, which is just too long in my opinion. So I split it in two. This is a good thing though because it means it won't be long before I post the second half once it is edited to my liking. Thank you as always to readers and commenters.

Rey looks out of the corner of her eye as she and Ben ride side by side in the Lincoln Town Car that is currently speeding its way through this unknown town toward their hotel. She wonders for the twentieth time what she is thinking. She is fully aware of the delusion she is justifying her behavior with. She watched Ben sign himself out of the hospital against medical advice, with the flourish of someone used to signing their name a lot, and she reassured the staff that she would keep him under surveillance for the next 24 hours and force him to return if she felt his condition warranted it. She said all of this with the authority and confidence that she always did at work, and the discharge nurse had taken her at her word without a backward glance. 

But Rey knows she was saying those words more to convince herself of what she is doing. Because while she does intend to keep her eye on him, Ben is not her patient. 

“What is it Rey?” Ben asks, and she jumps a little, embarrassed that he caught her staring. 

She recovers gracefully. “I’m looking at the butterfly stitches I put on your head wound and hoping it wasn’t a mistake,” she answers, hoping this sounds feasible. “I wouldn’t want you to get a scar.”

“It adds character,” he states, a small lopsided grin coming to his mouth. “Can never have too much of that.”

“Hmm,” Rey muses. “Yes, I was regaled by _many_ people at the hospital regarding your acting prowess. And here I thought I was sitting next to a quarterback or something. You must think I live under a rock.”

Ben looks at her seriously suddenly. “No. No, I didn’t think that at all. I thought…” he finishes quietly, trailing off.

She returns his gaze. “What? What did you think?”

He is quiet for a moment, and Rey feels him scanning her eyes, looking for something.

“It was nice not to be known. That it was nice to be with someone who didn’t already know me. Or think they know me anyway.” He is silent then.

“Oh,” she breaths, looking deeply into his dark eyes. “I guess I never thought about what it might be like to have to deal with that. Like I said before, I’m not really into movies or celebrities. I don’t even think I look at the magazines in the line at the grocers.”

He shrugs, looking down at his hands which are splayed on his legs.

“It’s ridiculous to complain. Who wouldn’t want to rich and famous?” These words fall from his mouth lightly and Rey gets the impression that they are practiced.

“Well…I think anything can get old if it is constant. If people do all the time what those women were doing on the plane, that is a lot to bear. I wouldn’t want to deal with it. When I’m at work, people’s need for my attention is constant. It I couldn’t walk away from that at the end of the day and go about my business in anonymity…that would be terrible after a while.”

Ben doesn’t have the chance to respond because the car is coming to a stop in front of the hotel. They exit the vehicle, and a bellhop comes to the car to help with their luggage. But their luggage is part of the crash investigation and will probably never be returned. Rey always brings a small carryon with her that has a few essentials and a change of clothes, but Ben had nothing on him but his wallet. She had the presence of mind to grab the bag before leaving the plane, and she’s holding it in front of her as the car pulls away. Ben walks slightly behind her, and initially she thinks it is because he is trying to hide the fact that his gait is unsteady, but then she feels the warmth of his hand at her lower back. She feels a pleasant humming sensation run up and down her back from where his hand rests. 

“Can I carry your bag?” He asks gently. 

She is about to scoff at the ridiculousness of him carrying her bag when he is the one who is injured, but then realizes that he is trying to be a gentleman. 

“No thank you, Ben, it’s not heavy.” She looks up at him and their eyes catch for a moment as something unspoken passes between them. Rey turns toward him slightly, so that now his hand resting on her back feels a little more like an embrace.

“We were in a plane…that crashed,” Ben states, brows furrowing. “How are we standing here? It doesn’t seem like it should be allowed.”

To Rey, it seems like the lights around them get a little dimmer and everything gets a little quieter.

She shakes her head a little. “I don’t know,” she almost whispers. He’s leaning in a little, and the feeling of intimacy increases. “Someone looking out for us? A force for good that wants us alive for some reason?”

He smiles charmingly. “Lucky us.” Rey’s mouth has gone dry, but she smiles back. As if on cue, the bell hop opens the doors to the lobby, and they turn in unison to walk into the most charming little boutique hotel she’s ever seen. It is warm with soft light and smells of rich wood and leather. They approach the desk and Rey watches as the clerk’s eyes snap to Ben as if being pulled on a line. 

“Mr. Solo,” the clerk says quickly, “We have your rooms ready. Rooms 702 and 704. Elevator is down the hall to your right.” He hands the keycards to Ben who accepts them with a nod and a quiet thank you. 

They remain silent on the walk to the elevator as well as during the ride up to the seventh floor. Rey’s heart is beating slightly faster than normal. She keeps trying to reason with herself, her mind racing with arguments and counter arguments.

_You were just in a plane crash, a life threatening event, you need to be a good doctor and keep an eye on him, there look, he just shuffled a little, he’s not in his right mind, you are taking advantage of him, you just met him, you don’t even know him, you were just in a bloody plane crash!!!_

As they walk down the hall Ben asks out of nowhere, “So who is Finn?”

“Hmm?” Rey asks, breaking out of her internal monologue and feeling confused. How does he know about Finn?

“I saw his name on your phone when you handed it to me on the plane. I’m sorry if I’m –”

She cuts him off with a smile. “Finn is my brother. Well, like my brother. After my mum died, I went to live at a home for a while. It was pretty terrible, but then one day Finn showed up, and it was like a star fell from the sky right into my lap. He made everything better. We stayed together even after we grew up. Just didn’t see any reason not to. We moved to the states so I could go to med school here about six years ago. He was so pissed at me when I finally called him from the hospital…he and Rose were out of their minds with worry.”

Ben nods quietly, and Rey can’t help but think that he looks a little relieved. 

_Wishful thinking?_

“What about you?” She asks, trying to clear her head. “Who did you text?” Of course, this man has a girlfriend. A plane full of women were literally lining up for him. 

“My text was to my mother,” he says quietly, slowing his pace slightly. “She didn’t get it, I guess. When I called her from the hospital, she said she never received it. He presses his lips together and heaves a quiet sigh. “Guess it’s a good thing we lived. Or she’ll never know that I…” His voice trails off, but Rey doesn’t push him.

They arrive at the end of the hall with their two hotel room doors side by side. When Rey reads the words ‘Presidential Suite’ on one of them, she makes a choice that is borne of many things, the foremost of which are curiosity and concern for Ben, but if she’s being honest with herself, she’s interested in him on multiple levels, and she’s not quite ready to let that go just yet. 

“I’ve never seen the inside of a Presidential Suite before!” she says, face held perfectly straight.

“Oh,” he says simply. “You can have that room if you like.” She looks at him and is suddenly irritated with him for making this difficult. 

“Ben, I told you in the car, I’m not comfortable with you paying for my room so I’m _really_ not comfortable with you paying for the Presidential Suite.” All of the words come out of her mouth in a reasonably measured tone, but she looks at him pointedly, defying him to continue on this path of what is either exhaustion due to stress, concussion due to head injury, or extreme stupidity due to what she cannot imagine. Hadn’t he just had his arm around her in the parking lot? 

The corner of his mouth drops into a crooked smile as he swipes the keycard across the suite’s doorknob. “After you,” he intones.

They enter through a small foyer that leads into a plush sitting room with rich carpeting and low-slung seating set in front of a fireplace. On one end of the seating area there are double doors that open to the master bedroom with a giant king-sized bed that is clothed in white linens and with its own bathroom. At the other end of the seating room there is a corridor that breaks off into two guest rooms that share a bathroom. There is a small table in the corner of the main room that presumably is for dining with a sizable stocked bar against the wall nearby. 

Rey is turning a slow circle as she looks around the main room. It is not as though she has never been anywhere nice. She is a doctor and can afford nice things at this point in her life. But her upbringing always informs her spending, and she tends to save and wait for special things. She might book something this grand for a significant birthday or a honeymoon, but for a single overnight stay on her way in and out of town? Never. 

She must have a look on her face because Ben asks warily, “What is it.”

Her attention snaps back to him. She notices that he is standing a little bit crookedly, as if favoring a side. All at once she sees him as a patient again, as someone who needs her. 

“It’s nothing,” she says softly. “You need to sit, I think.” She reaches out her hand and he takes it, frowning slightly. She moves a few cushions around on the couch and leads him into a sitting position where he is half reclining, his head back on the pillow, dark waves pressed against the cream-colored fabric. 

She looks around the room, deciding it is time to take charge. 

“I’m sorry you spent money on two rooms Ben, because I don’t feel good about leaving you alone in here with your head injury and there is more than enough room for the two of us.”

He chuckles, and Rey thinks it sounds a little disappointed, “Ahhh, I knew this was your plan all along. I thought you might be keeping an eye on me.”

_Oh, if you only knew what I was thinking not five minutes ago._

“We need to get food. And you need to take more Tylenol. It’s been…ugh…more than four hours, damn, I’m sorry about that Ben.” She goes to the bar to get him a bottle of water from the fridge and then digs into her overnight bag to find the meds the hospital dispensed for him. Once she’s given him the pills, she stands in the middle of the room lost in thought. 

“What is it?” he asks, and she looks back at him. For a moment she loses herself in looking at his face, studying his dark eyes and the small moles and freckles that fleck his skin. She wonders what he’s thinking about this whole thing. Does he think she’s trying to take advantage of him? Like she would, or more to the point, could actually do that… _look at the size of him_. 

“I need to shower,” she says absurdly, even though it is very much what she needs at this moment. A cold shower. “I need to shower, eat and then rest.”

“Me too,” he says, and it is then that her heart breaks a little for him, because she can tell that he is hurting. She reads the pain in his eyes as clearly as if it is written in ink on his skin. She knows she shouldn’t allow him to shower, he could fall and with a head injury that could be bad. But they were both in a plane crash. Being clean again will be comforting. She can figure it out; it’s not as if she is planning to give him a sponge bath. 

She slams that mental door shut before it can get her into trouble. 

She moves to the couch and crouches down in front of him so that their faces are level. She rests her hands on the couch in front of her and looks down at them when she speaks. 

“I know you don’t really know me, but do you think you can trust me?” She looks back up at him, feeling a little off kilter, like she isn’t exactly sure what she is asking him to trust her with. 

Something happens behind his eyes when she asks this that she cannot read, but she senses there is conflict. She is about to qualify her question, make sure that it is clear that she means it as a doctor and only as a doctor, but then he reaches out his hand and places it on top of hers. His one palm easily covers both of her hands and his touch is warm and reassuring. 

“Rey, of all the people in the world right now, I trust you the most.”

Rey is taken aback by this admission, and suddenly it is like he let his armor slip, and she can see for just a moment that there is loneliness and loss in his expression. It is like when they were on the plane and she saw that he needed her help with those women. She’s surmised from their short time together that appearing vulnerable costs him, both in his own estimation of himself and in the very real way that others want a piece of him. So, when he lets her in, even during those bare moments, it feels very intimate. It makes her heart quicken a little in her chest, but she forces herself to focus. 

“I’ve lost track of time, and while I’m sure it will soon be safe for you to sleep, I’d like to try to get us both fed and bathed relatively quickly—”

“Bathed?” He asks, the timbre of his voice dropping which causes something in her body to vibrate in kind. He gives her a look then, and it does not hold pain or loneliness or loss at all, but heat. 


	4. Act 1: The Plane Conclusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've extended the chapter count to make up for the fact that it took twice as long to get through Act One as I was expecting. That may hold true for Act Two and Act Three, but we will see. I hope you like it. It is a moment of happiness before things change drastically.

Act One – Conclusion

Doggedly, she continues. “We are going to have to take turns, but if I get us food, you can start eating while I take a quick shower. Once I’m finished you can take a bath.”

“A bath,” he says flatly, all heat gone from his voice. He is looking at her like she just asked him to paint the foyer while wearing his best suit. 

Despite his initial objection things go relatively smoothly. Rey orders practically one of everything off the menu because she is famished. Once the food arrives, she eats half a burger and an order of tempura shrimp before hurrying away to shower in the guest room bathroom. She moves as quickly as possible because she is concerned that he will fall asleep or do something stupid like try to take a shower in her absence. She tried to explain to him the danger due to his head injury, but he was stubbornly unconcerned and unconvinced. She thinks she made him pause when she described how embarrassing it would be if she had to pull his unconscious and probably bleeding body from the shower after he fainted. She hopes anyway. When she emerges dressed in her pajamas, which were lucky last-minute additions to her carryon, she downs the other half of the burger and a plate of fries before helping him up from the table. 

“I am mostly okay, you know,” he says impatiently. But when he shuffles and tips a little to the side it is her turn to put her hand on his lower back reassuringly. 

“You were saying?” She quips gently. He is quiet after that.

She runs the water for the bath while he undresses in the master bedroom. Rey is focusing all her mental powers on being a professional. As a nurse’s aid in high school and throughout college she had helped hundreds of people bathe. And she isn’t even going to help him. She just wants him to get in and out safely. The rest is up to him. 

_If all that is true, why is she sweating a little?_

Even though the bathroom is quite large it seems to shrink by half when he comes in, wrapped in a black robe that is clearly straining to close over his broad chest. This clothing development has her staring, but when her eyes drift to look up she quickly snaps back to reality. He’s looking at her, but his eyes seem unfocused.

“Okay, Ben…this is a bad idea,” Rey commands gently but firmly. “You look a little pale.”

But he is not listening to her. He gives her one last look, and it breaks her heart a little, how much he looks like a wounded animal. He’s been physically wounded, probably on her behalf, and now, his pride is taking a major hit.

“Rey, stay or go, I don’t care at this point, but I’m getting in that tub.” His voice is controlled, but she can tell if she pushes him she is going to get pushed back just as hard. 

“Okay,” she says calmly. “Okay, but let’s be smart about this. There is a grab bar in there. When you get in the tub, I want you to hold onto it with your good arm and lower yourself down. I’ll grab the robe as you get in… and then as long as you are okay, I’ll leave you to it. Yes?”

He nods at her, and sighs in relief, closing his eyes for a moment, presumably gathering strength. 

He walks over to the tub and for a moment they stand facing one another. Looking up at him, Rey feels real fear. 

_There is no way I’ll be able to lift him or catch him._

“Don’t worry,” he says softly, looking at her seriously as he puts his hand on her shoulder, “I’m stronger than I look.”

His bid for levity works, because Rey snorts out a laugh, and it is such a relief. His lips part in a smile as they both laugh. There has been so little laughing today for either of them, and Rey realizes suddenly that she doesn’t even know if it was today or yesterday when they met on the plane. His face is softened by the first real humor they’ve shared, and though she continues to chuckle, she thinks how close this came to an ugly end, and how lucky she feels to be looking at this handsome man’s face. 

He is still holding onto her shoulder as he gets himself under control. “Hey, can you do me a favor before we do this?” He asks lightly, a smile still on his mouth.

“Of course,” she answers, sobering immediately and looking up just as he moves his hand from her shoulder to cradle the back of her head, his other hand settling on her waist as he leans down to fit his lips over hers. Her initial reaction is to freeze, but then she reaches up and grasps him around his shoulder, the good one she hopes, and wraps her other arm around his back, pulling herself closer to him. The kiss deepens, and he pulls her up into his arms, pressing her body to him. Her hands move up his back, fingers tangling in his hair. His lips leave her mouth and he kisses her along her jawline, running his teeth along her earlobe. Rey feels this at her ear, but it radiates throughout her body in an undulating sensation that makes her shiver. 

“Rey,” he whisper-breathes into her ear in that velvet voice that caught her by surprise on the plane, and she feels as though the sound of it is reverberating in her bones. “I would really feel much safer if you got into the bath with me.” The words are playful, but weighted and dripping heavy like honey, his tongue trailing down her throat. 

Rey can’t even hold onto the thread of conflict, as she knows she should for his own good. She pulls her hands free from his hair, and grabs the front of his robe, pushing it open over his shoulders. Her head is tipped to the side as he continues to kiss her neck so her eyes drink in what she can see of his exposed upper body, the living sculpture of his neck blending into a broad shoulder and down into the curved bicep of the arm clutching her.

She decides she is wearing way too much clothing. She pulls away from him slightly, though he pulls her back to him hungrily, not wanting to give up his position at her throat. Her pajama bottoms are loose, so she just has to push the top of the pants down over her hipbones and they fall to the ground. He reaches down her back and when his hands get to her behind and finds no clothing there, a small sound like a groan comes from the back of his throat. Rey matches it with her own sigh of pleasure as he runs his hands up and down the back of her body, now and then stopping to knead at her butt and thighs.

“Bath,” she says breathlessly, “Now.” Reluctantly he stops kissing her throat and pulls back slightly to look her in the eye. He releases her and unties the robe, letting it slip the rest of the way from his body. He doesn’t break eye contact, so Rey doesn’t either, even though she very much wants to look at every inch of him. He reaches out with his hand and he wraps it around the grab bar.

“Don’t worry,” he says hoarsely, but with a lopsided smile. “This is my good arm.” With that he grabs her up into his other arm and pulls her into the tub with him. Rey has the sudden suspicion that she may have been conned, but she doesn’t care, because now they are sinking down into the water, which is somehow still warm. Rey is vaguely aware that this is not a normal tub, that it is in fact quite large and seems to circulate warm water without making noise or disturbing the water. She straddles him, and for a moment is graced with an unobscured view of his upper body, as his sculpted pectoral muscles and heavily muscled arms pull her closer to his body. His hands grip the back of her t shirt and begin to pull it up over her head. She lifts her arms up to allow the shirt to pass and then that is it. There is no clothing left between them. She feels his eyes rove lightly over the skin of her torso but then her wraps her in his arms and pulls her closer to him. Rey feels lightheaded when she feels their skin press together. He is warm and strong and wrapped completely around her. The kisses he places on her mouth a soft and hungry.

“Ben?” She whispers breathlessly. Pulling away slightly so she can look into his eyes. Their faces are only an inch or two apart, but she needs to know before they go any further. “Are you sure you are okay? Are you okay enough for this?”

His mouth breaks into a full crooked grin before he answers. “I’ve never been better.” With that he catches her under her arms and lifts her into a kneeling position in front of him, wrapping his arms around her body as he begins to kiss and suck on her breasts in earnest. The pleasure of it rolls through her and she threads her fingers into his hair again, clenching the sides of his body with her thighs. One of his arms releases her, and his hand makes its way between them, so that now he places his palm on her sex, and he is rubbing his thumb in the most incredibly perfect circular motion at its apex. 

Rey lets her head fall back as pleasure unfurls within her body and then begins to coil tighter and tighter in the lower part of her abdomen. She lets out a soft moan as the sensation builds. He changes rhythm and her breath catches, releasing his hair and grabbing onto his shoulders. Her orgasm is building, and she is vaguely aware of how quickly she is about to come, something that has never happened to her with another partner. 

What pushes her over the edge is the sound of his voice, which given her reaction to it from the very beginning, isn’t a surprise.

“I want you to come for me Rey. Can you do that for me?” His tone reasonable, but firm.

She cries out as she breaks, her hips bucking into him, but he holds her tight. What had been a tightly wound coil inside of her snaps and buffets the inside of her like a whip. He keeps moving his thumb against her, going slower and slower as she rides out the sensation and stops when he feels her body start to wilt, wrapping his arm around her again and pulling her close so that his head is turned to the side and pressed to her sternum. She imagines how loud and hard her heart is beating in her chest. 

She leans forward then and rests her forearms gently on his shoulders, cradling his head and placing a kiss on top of it. They stay like this for several minutes, but then he pulls away and looks up. When she looks down into his face, it is as if she is seeing someone new. Gone is the brooding, guarded man from the plane. She can see that his eyes are a rich brown color with flecks of green and gold that possess depth of feeling that she didn’t notice before. She leans down to kiss him gently on his forehead near where he’d struck his head. 

“How are you feeling?” She asks gently, looking down into eyes that she realizes with some trepidation are becoming quite dear to her. “Is your head okay?”

His lips quirk a little at her question. 

“One of them is,” he quips lightly.

For a moment Rey is confused but when she leans back to take a better look at his face, she catches sight of the other head to which he is referring.

“Oh,” she says, placing a soft, open mouth kiss on his lips. “We can take care of that.”

She lowers herself onto him slowly and for Rey it feels like it is a very, very long way down. When her hips finally fit against him, she lets out a gasp as he leans his head back and a deep grumble comes from his throat. She stills for a moment, thinking that all she really needs to get off again is for him to start talking to her, but then she realizes that is unfair. She begins to rock her hips, gently at first. Small sounds are coming from him, but she decides she wants more, so she begins to lift herself up and down while grinding her hips into him slightly. This elicits a much more robust vocalization from him, so she speeds up. His hands come to her hips, and she feels him guiding her while he lifts himself a little with each thrust. 

“You feel, incredible,” he moans, and Rey feels the coil tighten in her abdomen ten-fold. She wants to keep this man talking because it definitely does something to her. 

She leans a little closer to him and murmurs, “Tell me.”

He looks at her face then, and she can see through his half-lidded eyes that his pupils are dilated, his skin is flushed. She slows infinitesimally, inciting him to speak. He seems to understand because the grip on her hips tightens. The words fall from his mouth in a tumble,

“So beautiful. So tight and hot. Perfectly fit, like we were meant –” he stops there, perhaps afraid to go too far, but it is okay because hearing his voice rough with desire is enough for Rey to find her second release. It stronger than the first, the coil inside of her unwinding and snapping forcefully as she spasms around him, hips bucking erratically, which causes him to take his fall as he crushes her body into his in an embrace. 

For a long time, they hold onto one another and breath heavily. Rey’s mind is a perfect blank, a rarity for her. He is still inside of her, and she feels the connection there, as well as in how their hearts are beating so close together. She pulls back to look at him, her arms still around his neck. He leans his head against one of her arms and looks at her, his face relaxed for the first time since they met.

“I have a question for you,” Rey asks seriously, but her eyes are soft. 

“Anything,” he murmurs. 

“How is it that we were in a plane crash and yet somehow you still smell like some kind of spicy, citrusy, smokey deliciousness?”

He cracks a smile. “The smoke might be from the plane crash.”

“Hmmm…,” she muses, reaching next to them where a luxury shower gel sits on the shelf. “Well, even though you don’t seem to need it, would you be opposed to my offering you a sponge bath?”

“Well I don’t know doctor. Is that in your job description?” He leans toward her and kisses the corner of her mouth, gently, almost reverently.

This small gesture makes Rey feel something that she has never felt before. It is a swelling in her chest that is both exciting and terrifying all at once. She suddenly doesn’t want to make jokes anymore. When she looks at him again, she means it when she says softly, “I just want to take care of you Ben Solo. Does that sound okay?”

He leans back and cradles her head in both of his hands gently. When their eyes meet, he nods his head and the look he gives her is solemn. 

“For as long as you want.”

End of Act One. To be continued.


End file.
